– Founding Partner, Patent Attorney
Description
Mr. Crowther has prepared and prosecuted hundreds of patent applications. He helped one startup company build and grow a patent portfolio from its very first provisional patent application to a broad portfolio of issued and pending patents, ultimately contributing to the company’s acquisition in a deal worth $50 million. Many companies attribute their successful efforts in obtaining funding or otherwise completing a sale of the company as a result of Mr. Crowther’s expertise in navigating the patenting process and assisting in the creation of valuable patent portfolios. Mr. Crowther has counseled a variety of both public and private emerging and growth-stage companies on strategies for protecting intellectual property including patents, trademark, copyrights, and trade secrets.
His expertise includes a variety of high-technologies such as volatile and non-volatile memory technologies; heterogeneous, embedded, multiprocessing computer systems; semiconductor and digital circuit design and manufacturing; digital storage and networking technologies; broadcast and professional digital video technologies; and computer software including real-time operating systems, file systems, and applications. In addition, he also has prepared and successfully prosecuted a variety of inventions in the mechanical arts.
Mr. Crowther’s ability to understand innovators’ ideas, goals, and aspirations stems from his first-hand technical experience. Formerly a design engineer for Tektronix and Thomson Grass Valley, as well as an intern engineer for Micron Technology, he tackled complex technologies to create marketable products, sales of which were in the hundreds of millions of dollars. He is a named inventor on multiple patents, including digital video technologies used in the Emmy® award-winning Profile® line of digital video servers. Mr. Crowther enjoys working closely with inventors to capture the essence of their invention using clear and meaningful language and drawings. He is known for delivering a high-quality work product in a dependable fashion.
Although his primary focus is on the preparation and prosecution of patents, he also advises on strategic intellectual property protection initiatives, post-grant review proceedings, inter partes review proceedings, ex parte reexamination proceedings, license agreements, and non-infringement analysis and opinions.
Resume
Professional Experience
- Prepared and/or prosecuted hundreds of patent cases. Expertise in many different areas, including high-technologies such as volatile and non-volatile memory technologies; heterogeneous, embedded, multiprocessing computer systems; semiconductor and digital circuit design and manufacturing; digital storage and networking technologies; broadcast and professional digital video technologies; and computer software including real-time operating systems, file systems, and applications. Expertise also includes the successful preparation and prosecution of a variety of inventions in the mechanical arts.
- Prepared formal non-infringement and invalidity opinions.
- Drafted and negotiated technology license agreements.
- Drafted end-user and software license agreements for multiple software and high-tech companies.
- Designed and created marketable products as an engineer, sales of which were in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Bar Admission
- Oregon State Bar
- United States Patent and Trademark Office
Professional Affiliations
- American Bar Association (ABA) since 2005
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) since 1996
- American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)
Employment
- Renaissance IP Law Group LLP, Co-Founder, Present
- Marger Johnson & McCollom, P.C., Associate, Patent Agent, Legal Clerk, 2006-2012
- Thomson Grass Valley, Design Engineer III, Design Engineer II, 1999-2006
- Tektronix, Design Engineer I, 1999
- Micron Technology, Intern Engineer, 1998
Education
- Northwestern School of Law, Lewis and Clark College, J.D., 2007
- Law Review, Scholar List, Intellectual Property Certificate, Honors Moot Court Appellate Brief
- Brigham Young University, B.S. Computer Engineering, Mathematics minor, 1999